Welcome to anibesa
The lion or anibesa in the Amharic language (Panthera leo) is a large terrestrial predator inhabiting the grasslands and savanna of Asia and Africa. Recently, their numbers have rapidly declined throughout the continents due to human interference, loss of habitat and disease. One of the regions with a dramatically declining lion population is Ethiopia. Current estimates suggest that only a few hundred wild lions remain in Ethiopia.Interestingly, a small, captive population of about 20 lions have been continuously present at the Addis Ababa Zoo. These 20 lions descend from the private lion collection of the Ethiopian ruler, Emperor Haile Selassie (crowned in 1930), who captured their ancestors from the wild and brought them to his palace in the 1940s where their descendants remain to this day. These lions are unique for many reasons, including the fact that they exhibit distinct phenotypic differences from other lion subspecies. Notably, the males sport a characteristic large, dark brown mane which extends down the chest through the front legs, and down their back below the shoulders, and the length of the belly. Additionally, the Ethiopian lions, compared to other African lions they have lower body mass and smaller body size. Preliminary genetic studies from 2012 revealed that the Addis lions are members of a genetically distinct population of lions.
To extend the molecular genetic characterization of these lions, and provide a database of their genetic ancestry, we used DNA samples from 15 of the Addis Ababa lions collected in 2012 and prepared complete genome sequences, analyzed the results and made them available on this website to browse and download.
anibesa from the Addis Abada Zoo
Family pedigree at Addis Abada Zoo's anibesa gebi (lion premises)
Lion family pedigree at the Addis Abada Zoo (information provided by anibesa caretakers at the zoo)
Sex/Gender information for all Lions at the Addis Abada Zoo (testimony supported by Addis Abada zoo experts)
Pairwise relatedness among the fifteen AA lions. The heatmap represents the pairwise relatedness values (PI_HAT) between individuals in the AA lion population. The color scale ranges from blue (low relatedness) to red (high relatedness), with white indicating intermediate values. The dendrograms on the top and left sides of the heatmap display the hierarchical clustering of individuals based on their relatedness patterns
Calculation of Inbreeding levels in AA Lion as well as Supplemental Lion Populations. The scatterplot illustrates inbreeding measurements based on heterozygosity (Het_F) and fraction of runs of homozygosity (FROH). The blue dots represent individuals from the AA lion population, while the red dots represent individuals from supplemental lion populations
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